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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Samiti bats for setting up of Central University in Bidar

The Hyderabad Karnataka Janapara Sangharsha Samiti has demanded that the Union and State governments relocate the Central University proposed at Srirangapatna in Mandya district to Bidar district, which has the highest concentration of Muslims in the State. President of the samiti Laxman Dasti told presspersons here on Sunday that the decision of the Union government to locate the proposed university at Srirangapatna was “ill-conceived”.

Constructing the university in an area that has high Muslim population would achieve the desired result of helping minority communities. Mr. Dasti said in the Hyderabad Karnataka region, the concentration of minority population was very high when compared to elsewhere in the State.

It would be apt for the government to establish the university in the Hyderabad Karnataka region, particularly in Bidar, he said.

He said Bidar had the highest population of minorities of 19.69 per cent, followed by Gulbarga with 17.6 per cent, Raichur 13.6 per cent, Koppal 11.47 per cent, and Bellary 12.72 per cent. The Union government has identified Gulbarga and Bidar district as minority-concentrated districts in the country and had taken up special development plans for the welfare of the minorities.

Taking this into account, Mr. Dasti said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should intervene and persuade the Union government to relocate the university to Bidar.

The samiti would take up a postcard campaign from Monday, and post letters to the Chief Minister to intervene in the matter.

He said a delegation would meet the Chief Minister in Bangalore and apprise him of the need to relocate the university to Bidar. The samiti would also write to the Union Minister for Minority Affairs K. Rahman Khan. Bidar which was the capital city of the Bahamani Sultanate has a rich cultural history and establishing the university here would revive the forgotten era, he said.‘Centre’s proposal to locate the university in Srirangapatna is ill-conceived’